Nena - Original Album Classics (2010) 5 CD Box Set

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Nena - Original Album Classics (2010) 5 CD Box Set

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Beginning in 1982, Nena became one of the most successful pop stars Germany had ever seen, especially given the unique success of the original German-language version of the single "99 Luftballons" in the U.S. in 1984. With the full name of Nena Kerner, she had spent one year as vocalist for the Stripes (who disbanded after just one unsuccessful album in 1980), then assembled a band in Berlin called Nena. The lineup included herself as vocalist, Carlo Karges on guitar, Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen on keyboards, Jürgen Dehmel on bass, and Rolf Brendel on drums. Their debut single, "Nur Geträumt," became a number one success in German-speaking countries after the band's first TV appearance on the Musikladen TV program on August 21, 1982.

"99 Luftballons" followed, quickly becoming a worldwide smash, although by mid-1985, sales of Nena's records, and the attendance numbers of her 1985 tour dates, dropped, which led to the eventual end of the band in mid-1987. Beginning in 1989, Nena worked as a solo artist, releasing albums of songs composed mainly by herself and befriended musicians she chose as co-authors. (She also chose not to have a permanent band, as had been the case in the '80s, either in the studio or on tour.) Her first solo tour came in 1993, then pregnancies led to minimal live appearances until 1997. She began touring again (mainly in Germany) once or twice a year, backed predominantly by U.S. musicians in addition to Germans.

Throughout the '90s, she could be seen regularly on German TV (hosting a variety show series called Metro in 1993). She stayed true to her unique musical blend of melodic vocals paired with various rock styles ranging from the Beatles to the harder sounds of the Rolling Stones and even the Ramones (with the harder rock sound being her preferred style when on tour). Beginning in 1990, she also made a number of albums specifically for children and did voice-overs or contributed songs to animated movies and cartoon series.

After an ambitious, electronic-based album from 2001 called Chokmah failed to garner attention, 2002 found Nena celebrating the 20th anniversary of her breakthrough with an album of new versions of her hits, Feat. Nena: Live. To everyone's surprise, the audience response was sensational, actually replicating the runaway success of 20 years before. The following double album of new material in 2005, Willst Du Mit Mir Gehn (half of which premiered a heavier rock style) again went platinum, indicating that she had indeed established a strong base among a new audience. The year 2007 saw the release of a covers album entitled Cover Me, which featured Nena's own versions of tracks by the likes of the Rolling Stones and Moby. In 2009, she released Made in Germany, her 16th studio album, followed by Made in Germany Live and Best of Nena, both appearing in 2010. Du Bist Gut was released two years later. Combining elements of new wave, punk, and contemporary EDM, Oldschool arrived in 2015 and continued her over-ten-year string of Top Ten albums in her homeland.

Biography by Alan Severa

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Nena - Original Album Classics (2010) 5 CD Box Set

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Nena - Original Album Classics (2010) 5 CD Box Set

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Nena - Original Album Classics (2010) 5 CD Box Set

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The first Nena album was released at the start of 1983 and became the dominant sensation of the West German music scene throughout the year. Starting with the 1982 breakthrough debut single "Nur Geträumt," Nena arrived at a very distinct period of German pop history, the period of the so-called Neue Deutsche Welle or NDW, the German new wave. However, by 1982 German new wave music had been watered down by various bandwagon jumpers who transformed the tension- and doom-laden atmosphere of the music of the original late-'70s new wave bands into upbeat synth pop with jokey, ironic, and even romantic lyrics. Nena was immediately pigeonholed as an NDW act, but she and her band were in fact a more unique proposition: a group of musicians with a strong intuitive grasp of both classic pop and rock formulas. All five members contributed to the songwriting, with Carlo Karges and Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen providing the essential core of the repertoire. They arrived on the scene with a fully formed, confident music vision of their very own. The sound of the Nena band had in fact nothing to do with the stripped-down structures typical of actual new wave music. Even the use of the then in-vogue synthesizer sound (acting as the leading instrumental sound throughout the album) was firmly incorporated into the general basic power pop-oriented drive of a classic hard rock lineup. The pristine production and the unique touch of a slight but characteristic early-'60s melodic pop influence (including leaning toward essentially romantic imagery in the lyrics) were one thing that made the music special. The other factor was Nena Kerner herself. Her vocal style, remarkably reminiscent of early-'60s Connie Francis, and the excitement generated by her personality – by turns sweet or moody – proved thoroughly captivating. However, she always insisted that she saw herself as a member of the band and not as their leader. The classic across-the-board appeal of the band's music led to such a level of success that it practically buried the whole NDW movement beneath it by 1985. The album is still regarded as an unsurpassed classic of German pop history, although most later Nena albums are not far behind in quality. The second single, "99 Luftballons" – a fable of nuclear war brought about by a bunch of balloons in the sky being mistaken on radar for a pre-emptive missile attack – went on to become a number one hit in the U.S. and worldwide in early 1984.

Alan Severa, Allmusic.com

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In appearance, the second Nena album again bears typical hallmarks of a new wave act: a shadowy band photo on a black background on the cover and nothing more than a question mark as its title. However, as with the debut album, the music has little to do with actual deconstructionist strategies or new wave's typical intent to disturb. In fact, it is even further removed from that than its predecessor, which was driven by forceful songs and Nena's almost masculine singing approach on that occasion. The opening "Rette Mich" does pick up from there, but the rest of the album contrasts the debut by being much more romantic. Love and longing are the main subjects, with Nena's voice conveying a touching vulnerability that suits the wistful mood of the album perfectly. The music veers even closer to the magical sounds of '70s Baroque rock, which there had also been hints of on the first album. The song structures, however, retain an '80s simplicity, with writing credits spreading out even more evenly between all five bandmembers in various combinations, retaining their general tendency toward classy, beautiful pop melodies. Its tender atmosphere makes it truly special among Nena's albums. The title track, first launched as a surprisingly laid-back single in late 1983, features lyrics by Nena herself about the emotional to and fro (and acceptance) of one's own contradicting desires, and despite its lack of musical excitement, the song took on an anthemic quality for Nena's fans. In Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, the album consolidated the band's stature as the unsurpassable success story of the moment. Moreover, the concentration of the media on Nena significantly drained attention away from the German new wave scene in general, and by year's end there was a consensus that the drive to commercialize new wave in Germany had actually finished it off as a genuine movement. After the album's release in February 1984, the band found themselves extremely in demand, since it coincided with the surprise Top Ten success of the year-old "99 Luftballons" single in America, Britain, and Japan.

Alan Severa, Allmusic.com

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After experiencing two solid years of absolute hero worship, Nena and her band assumed that their third album would be eagerly awaited. Their plan was to meet those expectations by raising their own ambitions. The resulting album, however, was hampered by just that. The songs suffered from a loss of warmth, the results feeling to cool and constructed when compared to the previous two albums. Actual trouble set in for the band when, inexplicably, about half of their fan base failed to turn up for the ensuing tour, contrasting sharply with the obvious pride and self belief on show in their new elaborate stage set. The album could hardly be to blame, as it was neither an outright commercial failure nor was it weak in substance. Although the songs do tend toward a more mechanical feel, they do not stray far from the usual winning formula. There was however one change in the team: Manne Praeker left Reinhold Heil to do the production without him on that occasion, but it's unclear if that was decisive for the album's overall atmosphere. In any case, the albums closing song, the towering all-time Nena classic "Irgendwie, Irgendwo, Irgendwann" had been recorded the previous year (produced by Heil and Praeker), and had been a successful single. However, it highlights the shift in feeling between the previous productions and the 1985 album sessions. With German audiences suddenly giving shallow retro disco acts strong preference, the many attempts at releasing singles from the album met with increasing (but nevertheless undeserved) indifference. The effort on Nena's part to record a complete English version of the album ("It's All in the Game." with lyrics by Canadian singer Lisa Dalbello) also found little interest in the U.S. and U.K.

Alan Severa, Allmusic.com

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The intention was clear. Bringing an "icebreaker" to bear on the shock of the 1985 cool-down of the Nena success story. Producing themselves for the first time (with help from Klaus Voormann, famous for his collaborations with various ex-Beatles in the early '70s), Nena and her band succeeded in returning to the warmth of atmosphere that the previous album had somewhat lacked. In fact, the fourth album's songs turned out to be a mixture of the energy of the debut album and the subtlety of the second. Released in the pre-Christmas season of 1986, it nevertheless could not overturn the audiences decision of deeming Nena no longer relevant, and thereby shunning a very good album in spite of the general lack of high quality music in the mid-'80s. Although not quite as strong an album as the first two, the majority of the ten songs hold up very well in comparison, with all band members contributing songs as usual. However, Nena's voice has a marked pleading tone throughout the album, which possibly corresponds to the hurt she might have been feeling due to the unwarranted audience rejection she experienced in 1985. That in itself gives the album a slightly more downbeat atmosphere than it might have otherwise had. The timeless lyrical themes, the melodic inspiration from the early '60s, the classic Beatles/Stones-oriented rock arrangement, plus the prominent use of synthesizer sounds were all in place as ever, but after releasing two strong singles from the album ("Mondsong" and "Engel der Nacht") which did not bring about a turn of fortunes, the band quietly decided to split in late 1987. Nena herself made a brand new start on her own in late 1989.

Alan Severa, Allmusic.com

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Nena - Original Album Classics (2010) 5 CD Box Set

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After the huge success of her original band had faded, Nena and the individual members of the band went their separate ways as of 1987. For Nena Kerner herself, the question remained whether she could reassert her career on her own or whether her teen star status of 1983-1984 would remain her only triumph. However, as it sadly happened, by mid-1989 she had an even more daunting challenge to surmount, as her first child, Christopher, died due to consequences of complications that had occurred during his birth in 1988. It was under these circumstances that Nena decided to go ahead and record her first solo album, and the music turned out to be a gentle and balanced reflection of those circumstances. The title track, "Wunder Gescheh'n" (Miracles Happen), sets the tone with its peaceful confidence in the possibility of healing. What's more – as a historic coincidence, the song was released as the first single just days before the Berlin Wall opened up and signaled the end of the division of postwar Germany, a miracle happening for real, partly fitting in with the song's lyrics. Nevertheless, although the album provided a basically successful comeback, it was not a return to the massive success of five years before. The album did, however, prove that Nena continued to have a loyal fan base. As would be the case with future releases, Nena chose a few friends to co-write the songs with her, this time mainly with original Nena band bassist Jürgen Dehmel. Recorded using session musicians, the new songs turned out lighter in touch than the usual sound of her previous band, but it fitted the new material well and included a stronger tendency toward folk elements. Coping with loss provides the main theme of the songs, climaxing in the middle of the album in the very strong "Weisses Schiff" (White Ship), with its timeless feeling in the grand folk tradition, describing the sighting of spirits on a ship sailing in the eternal beyond. Nena's typical life-affirming spirit gently gains momentum as the album progresses, ending in the sly lyric of the swinging blues-style closer, "Abschied" (Farewell), with Nena playing the part of a woman who will take no more of being done wrong by her man. Although some of the songs are a bit lightweight, Nena's first sojourn in her own right turned out sufficiently convincing, further highlights being "Du Bist Überall" (You Are Everywhere), an elegantly touching song of reconciliation with her recent fate, and the Cajun-flavored "self portrait" of "Keine Langeweile" (Never a Dull Moment).

Alan Severa, Allmusic.com

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